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Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Tourism: Parliament's Committee Approves Recovering Measures


Wed 10 Jun 2020 | 10:20 PM
Yassmine Elsayed

The Tourism and Civil Aviation Committee of the House of Representatives, headed by MP Amr Sidqi, approved the two projects of the economic and social development plan and the state budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 in terms of allocations for the Ministry of Tourism and its affiliated bodies.

During its meeting, the committee recommended monitoring and follow-up applying international standards in the protection, sterilization and disinfection of various tourism activities and related matters and launching the "Egypt is a Clean Front" initiative.

The committee stressed the necessity of using the layoff time to raise the efficiency of the infrastructure of hotels, as well as improving routes to tourist and archaeological areas.

Improving Skills Needed in Tourism Sector

The committee called for holding intensive training courses for workers in the sector to preserve their skills, as well as increase training programs on hygiene and disinfection.

The committee recommended to speed up the issuance of the law regulating health tourism.

The Tourism Committee recommended a set of demands related to financially support the sector to help it meets the necessary expenses of salaries, rent and utilities, provided that they are repaid after the resumption of the sector activity, a year from now and without interest.

The committee called for postponing the payment of electricity, water and natural gas bills for hotels and tourist facilities during the crisis.

[caption id="attachment_131038" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled Anani Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled Anani[/caption]

The recommendations included a package of demands with regard to promotion and revitalization as it called for the creation of a new form to promote Egypt as a global tourist destination and the use of modern and innovative technological methods to attract new groups of visitors.

It also called for the development of Nile river tourism and the support and development of ports from Cairo to Aswan to activate the system of long Nile cruises.

During a meeting at the Tourism and Antiquities Committee in the House of Representatives in the presence of Dr. Khaled Al-Anani, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Aboul Enein said that “The Minister of Antiquities has proposed a plan to open the monuments every month and presents a new surprise monthly.”

The meeting came in tandem with the discussion of the the Tourism and Antiquities Fund Law.

“I attended one of such events in Luxor and another one was at the Pyramids area where all foreign media covered the events,” he added.

The MP explained that the coming period needs a new thought and new kind of support in light of the challenges facing the state.

“I attended an event with Minister Anani in Sharm El-Sheikh where he listened to a number of problems. I was surprised that the minister immediately called the president of the republic and solved 11 problems at the moment,” he revealed.